Sidelines
by mew-tsubaki
Summary: Drabble, light slash. Kinoshita and Narita used to mind being permanent reserves for Karasuno, but these days they're thinking differently, even as Ennoshita leaves them for the spotlight... .::pre-slash KinoNari::.


**Sidelines**

A Haikyuu! drabble

by mew-tsubaki

Note: The _Haikyuu!_ characters belong to Furudate Haruichi-sensei, not to me. These two need more love, tbh—though I'd marry Ennoshita-senpai in a heartbeat. -w- Read, review, and enjoy!

- ^-^3

"It's divine punishment."

Kinoshita Hisashi sipped at his coffee. "Why do you say that?" Honestly, sometimes his friend could surprise him, spouting stuff that sounded a little spacy and more like a cross between what Ennoshita and Sugawara might say.

But leave it to Narita Kazuhito to be quietly beyond his years. "I know we and Ennoshita explained it to the first years before, but… I still reflect on our leaving quite a bit."

Kinoshita shut his mouth. He was tempted to say, "So do I, and how my Smash Bros scores aren't as high now as they were when we slacked off." Besides, he only resented practice a little these days. He had missed it as much as Narita and Ennoshita had.

"But you've seen it now, haven't you?"

"Seen what?"

Narita smiled gently. "Come on. Getting Tanaka and Nishinoya to boost their grades. Getting Kageyama and Hinata to get their own scores floating above the failing mark. Ennoshita."

"Ennoshita what?"

"He'll make a good captain."

Kinoshita pursed his lips. It wasn't as though he _hadn't_ thought about it before. In fact, he'd had the same idea as of late—which didn't surprise him. He and Narita always seemed to be on the same wavelength. "But…if he becomes captain, what does that make us?"

Narita shut up then. Lunch ended in silence.

Ah. That really had been the wrong response.

- ^-^3

Kinoshita laughed as he, Narita, and Ennoshita split off from Nishinoya and Tanaka. "Your face is bright red, Ennoshita!"

Between them, Ennoshita walked without meeting their eyes. But, yes, he was nearly as red as Nekoma's uniform. "You guys…! It's bad enough being teased by Tanaka and Nishinoya. But not you guys, too…!"

Narita chuckled. He was glad that he and Kinoshita hadn't been the only ones to notice the future course of the Karasuno Volleyball Club. It made perfect sense that Ennoshita would become their captain.

"I wonder who'd become vice-captain," Kinoshita mused aloud, vocalizing Narita's thoughts.

The three of them pondered the statement, and then Ennoshita commented, "I think it'd be Tanaka."

"What, you wouldn't pick one of us?" Narita gently teased.

Ennoshita went red again and held up his hands in defense. "No! I mean, no, I don't mean to insult you guys! I—"

Kinoshita laughed again and exchanged a grin with Narita. "It's fine, really. Besides, you'd have to pick between us, and there's no doing that, right?"

The captain-to-be sighed wearily. "…yeah, let's go with that idea." He straightened his school bag's straps on his shoulder. "But, getting back to the topic… I _do_ think Tanaka would make a good vice-captain. Not Nishinoya, because he's too energetic, and the only person he's ever been any good at keeping in line has been Azumane-senpai. But look at how Tanaka took care of Kageyama and Hinata at the start of the year." A small smile grew on his lips. "Plus, occasionally Tanaka's gestures are just like Suga-san's. Have you noticed that?"

Narita fought a snicker. "Oh, man. Tanaka as the team's new 'mother.'"

"A thug mama," Kinoshita added.

The trio laughed at that. Soon after, Ennoshita went his own way, leaving Narita and Kinoshita to head home.

Kinoshita kicked a pebble around on the ground. "I meant what I said, you know," he spoke up after several minutes of silence.

"What's that?"

"That Ennoshita can't pick between us."

Narita felt like teasing his friend. "Because there's no competition, right? One of us is obviously better than the other?"

Yet the shorter boy looked at him directly and said with a straight face, "Because we're a set. You can't take half a set."

Narita opened and shut his mouth. He had no answer for that. Sometimes Kinoshita…really knew how to get to him with words. Sometimes it was a bad thing. Other times…it was great.

Really great.

- ^-^3

It was the middle of the Johzenji match. As per usual, Kinoshita and Narita stood off to the side, benchwarmers like Sugawara and Yamaguchi. Ennoshita was there, too, but there was something different about him. It was as though he, too, had finally come to accept the idea of what he'd be for the club come next year, and he was already beginning to give off that vibe.

Yet Kinoshita didn't mind. All he could think about was what the three of them had been through together, and how he and Narita shared lunch away from the others sometimes, and that Narita had been flabbergasted when Kinoshita had called the two of them a set.

Standing next to him, Narita also thought of their friendship and how they'd gone through the same things, and how it worked out nicely that he and Kinoshita lived near each other so they could walk home together every day, and that Kinoshita had so innocently called the two of them a set.

The first half of the match ended in Karasuno's favor, and they cheered their teammates on. But Kinoshita glanced at Narita. Narita glanced at Kinoshita, too.

It crossed their minds then that maybe the sidelines weren't so bad if they were together. Maybe they could own the sidelines while the others stepped in and stepped up. Being reserve players…it didn't seem so bad so long as they were together.

Then the two realized they were staring at each other, and they quickly broke eye contact and busied themselves with passing out towels and water bottles before the second half of the match commenced.

_Ah,_ Narita and Kinoshita thought at that moment, _he and I really are on the same wavelength_.

- ^-^3

**;] Cute, a little fluffy, a little angsty—but I love the second years! X3 These two need some more love, so you'll be seeing them in some upcoming fics from me… And that's a hint of EnnoTana in there, in case you're wondering!**

**Thanks for reading, and please review!**

**-mew-tsubaki ;P**


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